Week Thirty-nine Question

Has the Lord ever asked you-“Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake?”

“It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. Stand loyal to your friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life: - Chambers June 16

My Response:

The once-and-for-all bodily dying is a one-time occurrence - it happens then it’s done. On the other hand, the purpose of the “day in and day out” dying to self can get lost in a sort of weary tedium of the soul.

I think it is the everyday small things that can wear away most grievously at our hearts. However, it is those very things which trains and ultimately strengthens us. Jer. 12:5 states: "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

It is perhaps the same as with the dancer who daily practices and learns each step so when the moment comes to perform on the stage, he or she is not only physically ready but emotionally ready as well.

So as we walk in the light of ordinary things, let us not become weary.

Father-God, never let me lose sight of You and forget it is Your honor that is “at stake in [my] bodily life.”

 

Week Thirty-eight Question

Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God’s service, fussy ideas about our bodies?

“There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone” - Chambers Jan. 13

My Response:

Getting alone with Jesus should trump getting together with, well, anyone. Could it be that we all too often cling to the dense busyness of our groups (not that groups are bad or wrong or unhelpful) instead of the single stillness of the One?

Where are my priorities? My desires? Could it be that the “fussiness” that distracts me comes because I have traded the stillness of the One for the busyness of the many?

Father-God, may I always answer the call to go deeper – to be alone with You.

Week Thirty-seven Question

Am I set on my own way for God? Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach?

“All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly” - Chambers Jan. 28

My Response:

To be one with God – not to have God as one of many.

Father-God, it is not my determination that produces godliness in me. It is Your grace, Your mercy, and Your righteousness.

 

 

 

 

 

Week Thirty-six Question

Are you willing to be offered for the work of the faithful-to pour out your life blood as a libation on the sacrifice for the faith of others? Are you willing to spend and be spent; not seeking to be ministered unto, but to minister?

“…do you say-“I am not going to be offered up just yet, I do not want God to choose my work. I want to choose the scenery of my own sacrifice.” – Chambers Feb. 5

My Response:

As I reread this question, I couldn’t help but notice the date – February 5^th. Feb. 5^th, 1972 was the day I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. Hard to believe all that time has gone by – but isn’t that what everyone says? Where did the time go? As if time itself is to blame for its fleeting nature.

But the real question is am I as willing to be offered up for the work as I was those first days, months, years? Or have I instead chosen the scene of my own sacrifice?

It is good to reflect on the past sometimes – not to dwell there or long for its pull, but as the 70’s Christian band, Petra, used to sing: “Sometimes it’s good to look back down. We’ve come so far, we’ve gained such ground. But joy is not in where we’ve been. Joy is who’s waiting at the end” (from The Road to Zion).

Father-God, spend me as You will.

 

Week Thirty-five Question

Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? What is your faith up against right now?

“Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us” - Chambers August 29

My Response:

“Unutterable trust.” No doubts. There is a story about a tight-rope walker who drew crowds with his incredible feats. One day, crowds came to watch what they were certain was this man’s final performance – he had stretched a rope across a wide chasm, miles above the canyon’s jagged floor.

The crowds gasped with delight as the man repeatedly walked back and forth across the thin rope. They cheered as he did acrobatic tricks without so much as a falter.

The man addressed the crowd: “Now for my greatest trick. I will push this wheelbarrow across to the other side and return.” Everyone held their breath as the man carefully crossed to the other side and returned. “Bravo!” they shouted. “You are the greatest performer the world has ever seen!” exclaimed one man in the front. The rope-walker approached his admirer.

“So you believe I am the greatest?”

“Yes. I have seen with my own eyes what you can do” said the excited man.

“Well then. Do you believe I can put a man in this wheelbarrow and push him across, too?”

“Absolutely. I know you can.”

“So you trust that I will succeed?”

“Yes. With all my heart.”

“Good. Then get in.”

The crowd was silent as the realization hit the man – he was to be the one in the wheelbarrow. He was the one who had to put his complete trust and faith in the rope-walker’s ability. What should he do?

What would you do? Have you personally seen God in other’s lives and thought, “Yes. I believe He can do what He says.” Good.

Now God is asking you, “Get in.”

Father-God, I believe. Lord, help my unbelief.